Ella Elizabeth & Chase Gregory

JOURNAL

Take me out to the ball game...
posted on 08/24/2007

I am so proud of my little girl.  She sat through an entire Mud Hens game last night in 90+ degree heat and humidity so intense even G.Pa's hair would have curled.  It was brutal.  But Grandma and Papa were there...and that makes for a very happy Ella.  It didn't hurt that Grandma was rubbing the ice pack from my bottle bag up and down Ella's back to cool her off!

But...that is not why I am proud of her.  Here's why:  She actually enjoyed the atmosphere of the ballpark.  I will be honest and say that before Ella was born, I dreamed of taking our kids to the ballpark in the summer.  Sitting them on my lap and teaching them the difference between a knuckle ball and a slider.  Watching them marvel as a home run is lifted out of the playing field.  It was a nice dream.  And with a Daddy who works for a minor league baseball team, with 72 home games a year...a pretty realistic dream for us.

However, after Ella was born last summer, I recall one afternoon soon after we returned home from the hospital.  It was the first time I realized that she would never see the difference between a knuckle ball and a slider.  Never witness a home run sail over the fence in center field.  I ached at the death of my dream. 

How could she ever fully enjoy a Mud Hens game? 

How boring being at a ballpark when you cannot see anything.  My heart broke a little that day...and I was sad.

Little did I know that Ella was just waiting to teach me a few things about enjoying a Mud Hens game.  She sat on Grandma's lap last night, bopping up and down to music that I did not even realize was booming out of a speaker right above us.  I was too busy people watching, hoping no one saw how badly I was sweating from the heat.  I was not even enjoying the game.  Yet, there sat Ella.   Totally in the moment.  Clapping her hands and laughing along with all of the fun sounds.  FULLY ENJOYING HERSELF.  

Ella will never see one single strikeout. 

Never witness a player stealing a base. 

Yet she hears the crack of the bat...feels the excitement of the crowd after a big out...smells the hot dogs and the popcorn.  I choked back tears as I realized that my dream was still very alive.  Just in a different way.  Ella's way.  She will live a full, abundant life.  It might not be the life in my dream.  But it will be so much more wonderful than I ever imagined. 




Comments:

comment by Megan, Ava's mommy on 08/26/2007
Jill, a timely entry for me - I was just thinking in the car yesterday, "How does Jill feel when she takes Ella to baseball games?" This was seriously on my mind as we have discussed the Mud Hens in our past few emails. I wondered if you ever felt those pangs of grief the way that I have about Ava - realizing that some part of a dream has changed. But, you are so totally right about Ella's own experience at the games. She is there, she is listening, feeling, smelling everything. No, our experiences aren't the same as the ones that Ava and Ella will have, but they are equally as precious. Go Ella with the ball - Ava is good at playing, too! They will have to roll back and forth when we get together. :)
comment by Patricia Hughes on 08/24/2007
I love your website. I'm Patrick Henry Hughes' mother and fully understand your excitement. Patrick actually loves going to Louisville Bats games. Not only does he get to met new people he also enjoys the different sounds and even got to go to the press box one time and talk to the guy who provides the music and special effects. He really had an obsession with "sound effects". As you're learning, you will continue to be amazed at the things Ella will teach you...it never ends. Oh, the things we sighted people take for granted :-) Ella is BEAUTIFUL.
comment by Grandma on 08/24/2007
Ok, way to make me cry and run my mascara at work when it's 100 degrees in here. Now I'm not only hot and sweaty, my face has black running down it! It's funny, because I was thinking of how much fun she was having too. I kept whispering to her "swing and a miss" every time the batter would swing and she was tickled at the sound of that. The way Ella plays catch with me on the floor indicates to me that she may have sports in her future! She amazes us all the time. Love that girl!


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